Zorro!

Ahhhh...a wonderful thing is taking deeper roots...

Last year's "Dress-Up Day" with me and the girls expanded to include the boys this year. It was so relaxing and enjoyable and will not affect our blood sugar for days and weeks to come!


D took off from work a little early and met us at the theater for a matinee showing of "The Legend Of Zorro". It was a really great movie. "Fun for the whole family!" The 3 big kids thoroughly enjoyed it and the Hud-man was spellbound during the action scenes. The only sad part was the look on Hudson's face when something bad happened to a train. He loves trains.

Afterwards we ate dinner at our 2nd favorite diner and was surprised to see on our check that ALL kids ate free....instead of just the '1 per adult'! WHOO HOO! A ten dollar meal (plus tax and tip of course!) Mmm...and free ice cream!

What a lovely evening. Donnie said, "I think this would make a great tradition!"

I totally agree.

Two Chinese Students

I bet it would be so fun to hang out with these guys!

Thanks Cheryl (and whomever it was that you thanked!)

Gulp. Here We Go.

Within the next few minutes, I will be sending out an email inviting ALL of the family to a Christmas Eve open house. It will be the first time we've done ANYTHING like this. I hope it all goes well. I also hope that it is not necessarily assumed this will be an annual event. It MIGHT turn out that way but I certainly don't want to claim it without seeing how it goes first.

Basically, this is a somewhat selfish event anyway. We'll be doing the big Disney World thing as our family Christmas gift and I really would like to stay home as much as possible. We need the time here to get the house cleaned for the house-sitter and we need to save miles on the car AND gas money! Plus, there are lots of family members who don't have a CLUE where we live so this will be a good time to show everyone.

It will be a 10-3 kinda thing and a bring-a-dish-to-share kinda thing. Not a meal but a non-stop food buffet for all those hours. You know...an open house!

I really feel a touch of insanity for doing this but I KNOW I can pull it off. I will be making a HUGE to-do list and will TRY to break it down into things I can do day-by-day. The day itself will be WONDERFUL (visiting with family and eating good food is one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving and Christmas) but my house-prep time might make me loopy!

Will let you know!

My Husband, The Artist

Not Quite A Mastercard Commercial But...

It'd pay for our Disney World trip!

My blog is worth $3,951.78.
How much is your blog worth?

Alabama Football Is...

Just after posting my previous post, I checked email to find this. I tell ya, there is just something about TN-game eve that has everyone with that big script 'A' on the mind (a la Arby's goofy cowboy hat!)

There are some Awbs who cringe at stuff like this but...that's because they're jealous :)

Alabama Football Is

It is Wallace Wade, It is Bear Bryant. It is Gene Stallings. It is NOT Bill Curry.

It is definitely NOT Dennis Franchione.

It is the Sugar Bowl.

It is the Rose Bowl.

It is hearing Keith Jackson call an Alabama game.

It is watching George Teague running down Lamar Thomas in the 1993 Sugar Bowl then rewinding it and watching it again.

It is hearing the first notes of Sweet Home Alabama.

It is the desire to beat Auburn at any competitive event that exists.


It is the houndstooth hat.

It is having enough pride to fight for your school but having enough class not to.

It is cheering the same amount for a first down on second and 6 as on fourth and 1.

It is watching Cornelius Bennett give Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein a concussion on that October day in Birmingham in 1986.

It is determining who you are going to date and marry by which team they swear allegiance to.

It is watching the Bear on the jumbotron before a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium and almost seeing him lean against the goalpost in the end zone.

It is spending a day at The Bryant Museum and still not seeing everything.

It is the crisp autumn Saturdays when you can smell football in the air and feel it whenever there is a slight breeze.

It is watching The Bear get number 315 against Auburn.

It is watching The Bear get number 323 against Illinois.

It is hearing Paul Kennedy do the play by play when Van Tiffin kicked the 52 yard field goal against Auburn in 1985.

It is knowing how many days until the start of a season year round.

It is driving down Colonial Drive to see Bryant-Denny Stadium not the sorority girls.


It is getting chills up and down your entire body when ever you hear anything about the 1993 Sugar Bowl and the pride you feel because that night tradition ruled.

It is hearing the Bear's voice and having all the hair on the back of your neck stand up because you know no matter what he said, it was something special.

It is hearing the Million Dollar Band play "Yea Alabama"and knowing it does just not get any better.

It is imagining hearing Penn State Quaterback Chuck Fusina ask Alabama linebacker Barry Krauss "How close is it"? and hearing Krauss say "About an inch, you'd better pass", right before fourth down during The Goal Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl.

It is almost coming to tears whenever Alabama loses to Tennessee or Auburn.

It is "The Kick". it is "The Goal Line Stand". It is "The Desperation Block".

It is Joe 'Willie' Namath.

It is purposely not wearing any clothes with the colors orange and blue.

It is the third Saturday in October.

It is not needing an alarm clock on game days, you sit bolt upright in the bed long before the alarm goes off because you know that it is gameday, you can sleep after the bowl game.

It is walking into a stadium and knowing Alabama will win the game no matter who they are playing just because it just the way it is supposed to be.

It is ssaying "Offense wins games, Defense wins national titles.

It is the Bear Bryant 'A'.

It is getting to the stadium hours before the game just to be there.

It is walking into another team's stadium and having those fans hate you because you are from Alabama.

It is the pride that a father has when he brings his children to a game so they may cherish the tradition.

It is beating LSU in Baton Rouge.

It is hearing the crunch as a linebacker dressed in crimson and white hits a running back dressed in orange and blue.

It is the pride you take in being every team's rival.

It is pulling for any team that is playing Auburn.

It is pulling for any team that is playing Tennessee.

It is hoping for the stadium to blow up when Auburn plays Tennessee.

It is knowing that the SEC Championship is a birthright.

It is being respectd and feared at the same time.

It is holding up four fingers at the end of the third quarter.

It is knowing what "Mama Called" means.

It is beating the Gators twice a year.

It is seeing a sea of crimson in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

It is the most bowl appearances and victories in NCAA history.

It is having 21 Southeastern Conference Titles.

It is having 12 National Titles.

It is class.

It is tradition.

It is Alabama Football.

Rolllllllllllll Tide Roll!

Big game day tomorrow! The Tennessee Vols, our 2nd (almost tied with Awbarn for 1st) most hated team, will be played Saturday, October 22 @ 2:30 PM CT.


And while we're talking football, we'll be pulling for the Tigers tomorrow....the LSU Tigers that is...

Yea Alabama!

What Are You Smiling About?

"I made straight A's on my report card!"


"I can go potty ALL by myself and stand up like David!"


"I lost my first tooth!"


"I don't have cavities any more!"

*********************************

The top picture shows how very excited Indie is about her WONDERFUL report card. She really loves school and learning. I hope she will love homeschooling even more next year!

The 2nd picture shows He-Man and his honest-to-goodness THRILL about being able to go tee-tee in the potty all by himself. The child is ultra-independent....which is worrisome and a blessing all at the same time. He does NOT want my help in the bathroom any more. There has been more than one occasion where I will hear him walk into the bathroom and lift the lid, tee-tee, close the lid, flush, and come up pulling on his underwear and pants! When he notices that I see him, he beams with pride!

Thirdly we see Rocky and his FIRST BARE GUM! He loved the fact that it came out without pain :)

And I saved the most exciting story for last. This story is so exciting that it is quite possible many of you won't believe it. However, I have dental records to prove this and I just can't quit being THRILLED about it!

About a year ago, Ray's dental x-rays showed some shadowing on one of her back teeth. The info was presented to us in a very non-worried way saying that it looked like a probable cavity but that since it was on a baby tooth, they'd just watch it and see if it got any worse. Six months later, we were starting to see a new dentist (recommended by our chiropractor for being very accepting of weirdos like us! LOL). Anyway, with those initial x-rays, we were told that she had 2 cavities and that we needed to schedule her for fillings. I had TOTALLY forgotten about those things!

Well, I kinda stammered my way through the conversation saying that I wasn't sure about doing fillings on baby teeth and I was told they wouldn't use mercury fillings if I didn't want them to (I can't believe mercury is even an option! especially for kids!!) but I politely told them that we would think about it and give them a call.

Of course, we never called because I had another idea.

We took a dab of gel, stuck it in some powder so that it would stick, and then packed the powdery gel onto her teeth. She'd go straight to bed without any more talking. She did this religiuosly for at least 4 months and then the practice dwindled a little bit.

And then Tuesday, when we went back for the next 6 month appointment I was greeted with the information that "both girls' teeth look great! No cavities!"

She then proceeded to pull out the x-rays of Ray's teeth and said, "And we noticed that she didn't get fillings from the last time so we x-rayed her again to see how it looked and.....well....I guess the first x-rays just showed a shadow or something."

I said, "Ray...did you hear that!? NO CAVITIES!"

She smiled the biggest smile!

I told the hygienest, "Actually, we have another x-ray from another dentist that shows the same thing and it was also termed a 'possible cavity'. But we chose to do a natural home remedy."

Her smile was polite and her nod was like, "Yeah, whatever" but she walked out of the room to tell the dentist. Just a moment later, she had her pad and pen asking for everything that we had done.

So, we are all THRILLED to report that there are NO CAVITIES in any of the kids' mouths! All 4 were given a big gold star from the dentist this week and we couldn't be happier!

THANK YOU GOD!

Hey Mom, Look At Me!

DY is learning and loving "tumbling" (Donnie doesn't want me calling it "gymnastics") classes.



SR did an AWESOME job with her history monologue as St. Jerome.



I just love that sweet face...



This child is going to make a WONDERFUL Mommy one day!

Wanna Trade? (Actually, do you wanna give?)

I sure hope my kids don't know how to find my blog online...

Because...

I want to talk about one of the things we are doing for Christmas! Our BIG BIG thing is going to Disney World. The kids have fully accepted the idea that we are doing ZERO presents and doing a big Disney trip instead. They are TOTALLY cool with that (I think because we've never been a really BIG gift-giving-focus family anyway.)

But we ARE giving the kids a couple of teeny things for the trip (they just don't know it).

And the thing I'm excited about is getting them started with Disney Pin Trading!



Soooo, if any of you HAPPEN to have a Disney pin you've collected in some way over the years and it doesn't mean a lot to you and you'd like to help some kids get their collections growing, please let me know! It would be SO great!

Interested in shopping for pins? This is where I bought my first ones...

Another neat reference spot is www.DizPins.com

My Inner Child

Your Inner Child Is Happy

You see life as simple, and simple is a very good thing. You're cheerful and upbeat, taking everything as it comes. And you decide not to worry, even when things look bad. You figure there's just so many great things to look forward to.

How Is Your Inner Child?

The POLICE called

Welp, I'm now an official witness to today's accident. I think I was helpful.

Does Friday Cause Wrecks?

Today is a G O R G E O U S day! Blue skies, moderate temperature, FRIDAY! What an awesome day! But what about this kind of day has caused so many wrecks around town? Are people more careless on days like today? Does this TGIF feeling cause people to be daydreaming behind the wheel?

A policeman friend was at the girls' school today because both of our daughters were presenting history monologues in class. He missed his daughter's performance because he was called out to a wreck ("with possible entrapment" -- I heard on the walkie talkie). I saw 3 wrecks with police already on the scene while driving around town today. And then the ultimate, "gasp" came after getting David from school.

We were sitting at the red light just past David's school parking lot. I was behind another school Mom who was first in line. When the light turned green, I was almost like, "ahem....I've got some place to go...let's get a move on." She wasn't THAT long delayed but she wasn't immediately moving forward on the green light either. But as she moved into the intersection, going straight....WHAMMO! A driver from the left TOTALLY ran a red light at full speed and knocked her big ol' Explorer into the oncoming lane that was STOPPED (because it was a red light!)

Ugh.

I saw it in slow motion. It was one of those, "oh no, she's gonna get hit!" kinda things but there was NOTHING we could do but watch. Even Shayne said, "I've never seen a wreck happen before!"

Of course, I kinda pulled my car over to the side a bit and watched to see if anyone is hurt. People from surrounding businesses were coming out to check on everything, too. I told the guy from the barber shop (tall dude but I was able to lok him right in the eye), "hey...I don't think anyone is hurt and I need to move on. Let me tell you what I saw." Then I went on to relay my view. I wanted him to know what I witnessed and THAT I witnessed it. Next I saw another Mom from the school and I told her that I saw everything and to PLEASE let the Mom in the wreck (I had no idea who she was, I just knew I had seen her car in carpool line) that I would be happy to give any help or information to insurance companies if need be.

Since there didn't look to be anything that I could do, and since we had places we needed to go (and mainly since I didn't want to keep my 4 kids cooped up in the van for WHO KNOWS how long before the cops showed up!) I decided to move on. (Is it illegal or just rude for a witness to leave an accident? I hope I don't regret leaving!)

When I got home there was a message from the Mom in the accident. It turns out her daughter is in David's class. I told her, of course, that I would be happy to speak with her insurance person if I needed to. But the biggest "ack" was when she said she was fearing a lawsuit. Oy.

Turns out the 'innocent bystander' car that was hit was throwing beer bottles and cans out of the car AND that the driver scooted over and allowed the woman from the front seat to climb over and pretend she was driving. And of course the car that HIT "Mom" said HIS light was green.

Right.

So, I guess there is a chance I might be speaking to attorneys as well as insurance folks. But maybe not. Maybe the CSI'ing of the scene will keep things straight.

But let me say this. I can't thank God enough for letting us be 2nd in line. I can tell you that if we had been first in line that we would have been in big trouble. I would have gone right away which would have made that dude right into the passenger areas of our van. And our van is lower to the ground than that Explorer was and it would NOT have been good for the kids. Makes me sick to think about it.

And the same goes for the Mom. When I spoke to her she said she had been turned because her son was trying to unbuckle his carseat. If she hadn't been delayed for a second because of that, she would have been hit or the backseat would have been hit with her kids. Thankfully, only the front/driver's side was hit and then pushed so that the front passenger side hit the STOPPED car.

Big sigh.

Thank you, Lord. I truly am thankful for your Hand of Mercy.

That Crazy Sidewalk Chalk Art

OK, I've had these pictures emailed to me SEVERAL times and have been amazed by them every time but FINALLY, I see a teeny tiny bit of how these things work.

I got this link from Max (see list of "Froggers" - friends/bloggers) who got the link from Amy (see his site for her link).

You'll see the familiar chalk drawings at the beginning but FINALLY as you scroll to the end, you see a "rear" view of the drawing. It starts making sense when you see it from that angle...

Right Angle Sidewalk Chalk Art

Absolutely amazing talent and imagination...

Well, a teacher did tell me one time that I could argue with a telephone pole...

And of course I said, "No I couldn't!"

:)

You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor)

You're logical, driven, and ruthless. You'd make a mighty fine lawyer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Yes, I've Lost My Mind

We got a kitten.

Meet Sam Catser.

He's very interested in getting to know the gerbils.

It was a weak moment. I was having a really good day (even found a dollar on the ground!) and my good mood got the best of me. A litter box-trained kitten with a "money back guarantee" was being given away at a Children's Clothing Exchange (consignment sale). It even came with a bag of food! And he was so cute and so gentle with the kids...

I just couldn't resist.

Do you think maybe I'm trying to appease my secret baby fever??? :)

Death Test

I followed a link to a survey site and took the "Death Test" to see when I will die (yeah).

It says I'll die at age 84 in April 2058. It says the probable cause is cancer.

Now I think this is GREAT news because this test doesn't take Mannatech into account :) With all the Advanced Ambrotose and PLUS I am taking, that cancer risk goes waaaaaaaay down. Therefore, my goal of 120 years old looks possible!

It says the average female lifespan is 77.1 years. That's sad.

Let's say if, just IF this thing was right, I would have only lived 38% of my life so far. So if I make it any older than that, I'm basically just a child!

The test is from www.okcupid.com

It's not the greatest site in the world because it is obviously a hook-up site. But I thought the test looked interesting so I tried it.

Vote For Prothro!

This guy is awesome! Give him some lovin'
Vote For Prothro!

S I C K O !

I don't know if you've noticed or not but I have this cool little gadget down in the bottom right-hand corner of this blog and it tells me where people click FROM when they are coming to my site. I can click on their link and see how they found me.

Well, I found this one tonight that TOTALLY grossed me out. I am learning that if there is ANYTHING even slightly open to perversion, I must code it as I write about it.

Why?

I had a link tonight from someone who had SEARCHED for " b /o /y u / n /d / i /e / s " Sorry for it looking like that but it has to be coded or else my blog might pop up again for someone who does a search for it!

I can't believe anyone would!

That's right. Someone did a search for 'b_y u_di_s' and found my blog entry about Hudson and his potty training success. The even stranger thing is that it came up as the 41st result which means the person who was doing the search was really serious about finding links pertaining to it!

To think of that pervert seeing my baby boy's picture makes me cringe!

Y'all we all have to be so careful.

Don't be surprised if I delete this blog and start another in the near future. Y'all know how I am about not having it on hard copy though, so I've got to figure out some way to save it all before I delete it. (Again, I'm open to suggestions for an easy way to do it).